The Forest's Poison
by Esper of Tropica
Summary: I don't know what happened. I never wanted this. What is wrong with this forest? Ewwww, bugs! Seriously, what is up with all these cats? Can't my grandparents catch them and get them neutered or something? I swear...
1. Into the Forest

It was a boring, long trip to my grandparent's house. The trees were really the only thing you could see the whole way as the car drove through the forest. Annoyed and with my bag in the trunk, I grabbed the nearest thing to me: a travel magazine.

You see, my grandparents live on this large forest property. They've told me it was absolutely gorgeous and that I'd love it there, but I was skeptical since I hated dirt and worms and…ugh. Just thinking about it makes me cringe.

My parents were always blabbing on about how we need to take care of nature, but honestly, I feel like it should just go away and leave me alone. I don't want anything to do with it.

Somewhere along the trip I had fallen asleep, and I sure wasn't happy to see insects flying at my window. Ooooh, this was going to be terrible. I felt almost sickened as I hoisted my stuff onto the stone porch, and hugged tightly by Grandma.

"It's so nice to see you! You have grown!"

"It kinda has been three years and of course I have," I said, pushing her away softly. She only hugged tighter, squishing me against her stomach. Grandpa tapped my shoulder.

"Hey, Grandpa," I said, although it was muffled by Grandma's floral shirt. He hugged me, sandwiching me between them.

I squeaked and struggled to get out, slipping down and ducking away.

"That hurt!" I said dramatically, grabbing my bags and pulling them through the beech wood door with golden handles in the shape of cats. I placed the bags in the finely furnished living room and went back out.

Grandma immediately began fiddling with my hair. I let her, enjoying the feeling slightly.

I swear, it was only slightly.

Grandpa had went inside already, probably carrying my bags even though they had a "do not move" tag on them.

"You're so pale! This will do you quite some good!" Grandma said as she led me into the house. She seemed to smile brightly as she had me sit down at the hand carved dining table. She left for the kitchen as I fiddled with a cat themed bowl, which seemed to have had a bunch of fruit in there. Grandma came back and poured a bunch of fresh cherries.

"Sorry, dear, we had eaten them all. We didn't expect you to get here so quickly!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed one, only for my hand to be hit with something that looked like a cat's paw. I looked back up at Grandma with almost a shocked expression, although she only had a flyswatter shaped like a paw.

"You need to wash up first! Don't think that we're not going to discipline you!"

I got up, washed my hands from a cat shaped faucet in the bathroom, and came back. Grandma was outside in the back with a bag full of…something. I couldn't tell what it was. She put it on the ground and almost immediately a speckled grey cat with strange long legs dove into it, coming back out with a still living mouse. It ran off to a large, branching oak tree near the vegetable garden.

Grandma came back in, rubbing her fingers. "It's almost dinner time! Whatcha like, city-girl?"

Still disturbed, I shook my head. "I'm not hungry after what just happened."

She seemed confused before nodding. "Don't worry about them. They're nice. That's Speckledstar."

I stared, confused by such a ridiculous name. I shook it off and stood up.

"Pizza, please. Pepperoni with extra cheese."

I ran off to my room and collapsed on the frilly yellow bed. Honestly, I think that it hasn't been used since my mom was a child, but it seemed to lull me towards sleep.

If there wasn't a large, fluffy golden shaded tabby tom with red markings and pale green eyes in my face. It kept meowing at me annoyingly, so I shoved him off the bed. He just jumped back up and sat on my back.

By then, I was so annoyed; I stood up and let him jump off my back. I ran down the stairs, trying to not trip over this STUPID FREAKING CAT. Eventually, though, I made it down. I rested on the couch, trying to ignore the fluffy face at my feet.

Eventually, as I kept trying to nudge the cat away, I was called to the table. I ditched everything and ran over there, sliding into the hide chair. A pair of antlers, some of the largest ones I've ever seen, stared over at me from the other side of the table. Grandpa sat underneath it as Grandma brought out a decent sized pizza with little herbs on its top.

After they prayed, we all dug in. The little chopped herbs made it almost sickeningly sweet, but also made the pizza taste like mint.

"I made it myself!" Grandma said. I coughed and quickly began downing the nearest source of liquid: sweet tea, which tasted almost exactly the same as the pizza.

"That was rude!" Grandpa said, staring accusingly at me. I stared at them for a moment before spitting out a small leaf from the tea.

"What is this? Chocolate mint or something?"

"Cat mint, actually," Grandma said. "Much tastier."

I felt like I was about to pass out. "I-I'm going to bed now."

* * *

Falling onto the bed, I didn't care as the cat jumped onto my bed. My head pounded as I slunk down, closing my eyes

* * *

When I woke up, I screamed.


	2. Lakeclan's prey problems

I looked down at myself, feeling my fur bristle at the sight! I. WAS. A. CAT!

Oh, I was hideous! Big eyes, long claws, slit pupils!

An utter disaster! Terribly horrid! I, Meonii Elfman, was one of the most vile of creatures I could ever imagine! A felid!

I immediately ran downstairs, burst through the back door, and ran across the sandy dirt until my paws hit grass. I jumped, digging my claws into the hard oak bark and climbing up until I reached a high enough branch to look out around the lake. I was in one of two trees, one surrounded by daisies and…apparently home to a bunch of squirrels.

With a loud scream (or would it be a yowl now?), I jumped out into the lake, feeling the water rush over me. I began thrashing, having forgotten one key thing: I've never been able to swim.

Something else dove into the water, and thinking it was a squirrel, I began trying to kick it away. It grabbed me by the back of the neck, pulling me towards the shore. A white cat with what appeared to be spots had pulled me out, amber eyes blazing with what appeared to be anger.

"What kind of mousebrained fool are you?" it hissed, its voice feminine. So that was a girl.

The so-called Speckledstar dropped down from the other oak tree on the small peninsula, her small paws kicking up faint amount of the sandy earth. She loomed over me and the other cat, who retreated slightly.

"Aloeblaze, what are you doing?" Speckledstar said, her voice calm but stern. Aloeblaze flicked her tail towards me.

"This mousebrain jumped into the lake. She wasn't swimming at all. And she's scared off the squirrels."

Speckledstar turned to me and grabbed me by the back of my neck, dragging me up the other oak tree and onto a branch.

"You're staying in the hole until we figure out what to do with you. Don't come out unless we say so," she said, jumping away as Aloeblaze pushed me into a dark hole in the tree.

* * *

I was stuck in a hole with no water. Just great. I curled up and pulled my tail over my face, the lilac caliby fur annoying me with its irregularity.

After a while, I think I fell asleep. Oh, I was so annoyed with myself. I trashed around, biting my fluffy tail until it bled.

A brown tabby cat with white paws and blue eyes walked in, carrying some kinds of leaves.

"Hello, I'm Thornpaw," he said, dropping the leaves in a small hole in the wall. "You're in the medicine cat's den."

I thrashed my tail.

"Well, aren't you annoyed?"

I thrashed it harder to show I meant business. He laughed and grabbed the plume of it.

"Kittypet, most likely. No loner or rouge gets their fur this fluffy and soft. Probably came from the twolegs nearby."

I snapped at him, which caused him to let go. My fur stood on end, the wet clumps separating temporarily. He laughed.

"If you are a Kittypet, then I could easily take you down in a battle, even if I'm younger than you!"

I lunged at him, going for the back of the neck. He surprised me by kicking me in the stomach, using me as a balloon to play "keep off the floor" with.

I hit a thin branch, but grabbed onto it with my claws to refrain from falling off. I almost immediately noticed Speckledstar and a dark grey cat, most likely a tom, walking across the branches with ease as they came nearer. I had the urge to jump, but I was too high up.

The tom spoke. "What in Starclan are you doing?" he hissed. Speckledstar nipped at his ear.

"We have decided to let you go, although you are permitted to stay on the territory as long as you don't scare or eat our prey. We struggle with that enough."

They both turned and walked away. I jumped, but Thornpaw came after me, his white paws kicking up some sand.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Meonii," I answered in a hiss. "Now leave me alone."

He didn't, but it was nice to have company as I walked towards the manor. I sat on the gate and stared cruelly at him.

"Go on, shoo. Your kind is not welcome here."

He shook his head.

"You are mistaken. This is part of our territory too."

"No, it's my home! Now get out!"

He shook his head again. "Honestly, will kittypets ever learn?"

I hissed and jumped towards him, but her ducked and rolled out of the way before jumping on my back.

"Seriously, when will your kind ever learn?"

I rolled, squishing him underneath me. He put his paws on my ribcage and pretty much hugged me, although it was more of a death hug than anything. I squirmed and escaped, hissing at him. I gave him a quick swat before bouncing away.

* * *

Everything was happening so quickly, I didn't understand! I kicked a patch of buttercups, sending a seed flying. I covered it with dirt to hide the evidence and watched as a small sprout began to grow. I backed away as it stopped, not blooming but still budding. I curled up near it and yawned, licking my tail clean from the blood, though it was disgusting.

It was the morning again, and I found myself face to face with a small rabbit, in which Aloeblaze was crouching in the grass. She lept at it and killed it with a swift bite to the neck, the grey body falling limp.

* * *

Days past and more strange things began happening. Prey, mice and squirrels and rabbits and birds like robins, began flocking to the area as I began planting more foliage in the vegetable garden and other places. The group, supposedly called Lakeclan (stupid name, honestly), began giving me food, as I was reluctant to eat cat food that the house cat my grandparents had also ate.

Thornpaw crept up behind me, but I flipped him onto his back and pinned him by the leg.

"Well, I thought you were supposed to be the better fighter of us?" I mocked. He "smiled" and stuck his tongue out. I twitched my whiskers and let him run off, although he came back with a plump rabbit from the "fresh-kill-pile".

"There are other clans who could probably use your help. Please, go, and let Starclan light your path," he said, giving me a quick lick on the nose before giving it to me and leaving. I shrugged, dug in, and fell asleep with my head partially in the carcass.


End file.
